LUKA & LUNA LOVE

So apparently this is going to become a normal thing.  LOL

Luka doesn't normally have too much to do with the boarding dogs.  He likes them okay - but he has a host of medical issues and even though he is only 5, he acts like he is 90 most of the time. 

He seems to be really taken with Luna though - everytime I have checked this morning, they were together.  

SHAPING EARLY OFFERED BEHAVIORS

One of the great things about positive training is you are always looking for things to "capture" that you might need later. 

Capturing is when you see a behavior that you like or may be able to use later so you acknowledge and reward it when it happens.  

Since one of the ways Luna is going to learn to alert for Daishia is to put her paw on Daishia's leg while sitting, when she offered this behavior - we had a puppy praise party! 

You don't have to have treats or toys or anything ready - just acknowledge and recognize the behavior when you see it and begin to pair it with the cue you are going to use if you know it. 

Little one is already learning!

SETTLING IN NICELY

Since she had such a big few days, we are just hanging out today and letting her find her feet here. She has done very well and fits in really well with my crew.

We are working on passive house manners behaviors like waiting at the door, soft recalls (meaning just hanging around in general and checking in as opposed to the more formal recall we will teach), learning property boundaries, general polite mannerisms... Nothing specific... as I see it we work on it.

Her only two issues at the moment are:

• Mouthing too hard - I don't want to discourage putting her mouth on things since we want to teach retrieves but we do have to curb the strength behind the bite as she doesn't know when to stop and goes too hard.

• Containment stress - she is not a happy girl if blocked behind a barrier of any sort. In the car, behind the fence, in the crate - she has a powerful set of lungs and will sing the song of her people at full volume for awhile in an attempting to persuade the hoo-man that she will likely die if left there.

Neither of these are in any way worrying and are things I am already seeing improvement in.

Her first night of crating, we had hours of unsettledness, last night was significantly better and hopefully tonight will be better still.

It is about reducing stress in those situations and building value to being in the place they don't want to.

While it is certainly a work in progress, I think in a week or so we will have it most of the way resolved...

MILEMARKER 001 - SOCIALIZATION CHECKLIST

Luna made a huge dent in her SOCIALIZATION CHECKLIST in just her first day. 

GETTING COMFY

She has fit right in.  We had a rough night getting her settled, so we are running on only a few hours sleep at the moment but so is the life of many a new puppy handler! 

I let everyone out for a potty break and the yard was still wet from the rain and fog last night.  We started introducing the bell by the door for Potty Notices and this will be one of the first few things she learns.   Of course there will be more information and videos of this as we go so if you are struggling with potty training or just want more information on this technique, stay tuned!

She had a pretty full on last few days so the next few will just be her having a chance to settle in, get her head around her new life and relax with my dogs. 

I had to laugh at her ingenuity this morning.  I come back from starting a load of puppy laundry from the car to find her having solved the issue of how to stay warm and dry in an otherwise wet yard - just use Luka as a pillow of course!  Yeah - she's going to fit in just fine here!

FINALLY HOME!

After meeting up with her family, we still had a 4hr trip home which Luna slept beautifully through. I had some car trouble coming home and it had been a long few days but we finally got home just after 1.00am.

I let my personal dogs out to meet her.

Living with me are:
Gryphon - 3yo Rough Collie
Luka - 5yo Giant Schnauzer x Standard Poodle
FizzGig - almost 4 month old Yorkie mix

Within minutes she was exploring the yard, had let everyone have a good check over of her, was not intimidated in the slightest by the 80lb boys (but then again when your parents are Giant Breed dogs, these boys are probably small) and was running around the yard with Fizz.

MEETING THE FAMILY

Our next stop was the most important of the day - Luna's family had been excitedly waiting to meet their baby all day and the time had arrived.  She had a good nap on the drive out to them so she was ready to be a real social butterfly.

Her upcoming handler is Daishia, the young lady above.  First we did introductions to the family and let Luna settle into the new space. 

She made herself right at home.

They have two adorable pugs, Steeler and Brutus (Buddha) who were excited to meet her too. 

So somewhere, somehow along the way, my new Samsung Note 8 decided to randomly delete photos and videos I had taken and so there is a bit of a gap here in with her interacting with the boys.  This will be a work in progress to get them used to having another dog in the house.  She was pretty unphased and I think should handle her stays with them well.

After much playing and a little play biting which we need to work on, she settled down for some cuddles and Daishia ended up putting her to sleep with a puppy head massage.  LOL  She won't fit in laps for long, but for now she was a very contented pup!

It was getting late and I still had 4 hours of driving to do so sadly we had to start wrapping things up for the night. 

I will be bringing her up every month to work with Daishia and stay with the family but a month is a long time when it's your new baby we're talking about.

All in all, I think this match is going to be a good one.  I was really happy with her behavior overall, the family are in love and I already see a lot of potential in this little spark.  Congratulations Gainer family!

MORE MASTIFF FUN!

After the Botanic Gardens, we met up with another service dog team for a puppy meet and greet and some socialization with Ana and her dogs Qui (her retiring Mastiff) and Hoodoo Moon (her Mastiff service pup in training).

Ana runs the West Virginia Service Dog Support Group up the Morgantown way and works closely with the Hearts of Gold program at WVU there.

Hoodoo is a stunning reverse brindle, full English Mastiff like her predecessor Qui.  (In the background there) - She's 18wks old now to Luna's 8wks and a little much for her but it won't be long before I think these girls will be BFFs.

FIRST THOUGHTS

 
INITIAL OBSERVATIONS:
* She is a confident, friendly and outgoing pup.
* She readily explores new surroundings without hesitation.
* She is not distracted or bothered by loud sounds (gunfire from a firing range) in the distance.
* She redirects well and offered several self paced check-ins.
* Although initially unhappy about the leash, she settled into a good rhythm after about 20min.
* She met several groups of people who wanted to greet her and she kept her feet on the ground for the most part, approached willingly and was not phased by sunglasses, hats, bulky jackets or purses.

She seems to be exactly what we hoped for so far!

Follow her on Facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/lunasdit/

BATH TIME!

I'm taking LUNA out to meet her family on my way home, so we made use of the Self Service bath at the PETCO in Morgantown.  She was not a huge fan (not many babies are) but she handled it very well given they were really busy, dogs barking, dryers going - it was a lot for me audibly so I am very proud of her! 

 By the end, she just laid in the tub and waited for me to finish drying her.

SHE'S HERE!!

TODAY IS THE DAY IT ALL BEGINS!

I have picked up the baby girl, who the family have decided to name LUNA.  She is sooooo adorable and full of delicious puppy breath!  My initial thoughts are very good with her.  Even after spending forever in a car, she is friendly and engaged.  I will do a full fill in as we go!

WE HAVE A WINNER! PURPLE COLLAR GIRL IT IS!

It has been down to these two girls almost the whole time but after much discussion with Shawna, we have decided - we all agree - the purple collar girl is our best choice!!

We were discussing what she thought and here were her final observations on purple:

• She's a bit more curious and does not shy away from most anything that she experiences
• New situations go very smooth with her
• She is a bit more energetic than the dark pink
• She did the best with the ENS and I just think she's going to be the one eager to learn and not spook in new situations

So we have our girl!

BEHAVIOR UPDATE

Here is some of what I am discussing with the breeder...(I had asked a bunch of questions)

Yes they are changing so much as they grow, but the one which did best with the ENS would be the purple collar then the dark pink close behind. The purple collar is most puppy social would say while the light pink girl likes to be near the human. The dark pink seems less pushy at feeding time. None of them seem to be the picked on pup they all have their own times when they initiate and are initiated upon by the others. They started spending time outside and love it so outside playtime right now is there favorite. I'm really thinking the purple collar right now myself from behavior. But like you said we will surely see in the next couple weeks.

Some observations from her daughter:

The purple collar one was moderately calm during the ENS exercises, the exercise she had most problem with was the q-tips. The one she did best at was the towel. At feeding time she is pushy. And as I've seen all three of the females usually initiate play time, as for playing she can most the time hold her own.

 The dark pink collar one also did well at the ENS exercises, the one she did worse at was being held upside down. The one she did best at was the towel. She is typically very calm during feeding time. I feel like she tries to hold her own but the others just get the best of her.

The light pink collar one did not like the ENS exercises at all, she did worse at the q-tips and best at the towel. She is pushy during feeding time, and she has the heart of a bossy pup but not the size.

All three of them love to follow you around. None of them are the nervous type. 

GEAR FOR THE BABY HAS BEGUN ARRIVING

We're getting ready!  Whichever pup we choose will be coming in early November which is not far away at all now!

THEY'RE GROWING!

We have open eyes and more movement now!  Adorable!

We have our eye on the girls with the purple and dark pink collars as the forerunners at the moment based on their early ENS observations.

LOOK AT THEM GROW!

Just more puppy picture spam - not a whole lot going on with them at this age, so just a few more photos...

PUPPY UPDATE!

These are the available girls...we are looking forward to watching them develop.

Initial observations from the breeder regarding ENS:

The purple collar does best most days although the lavender one does good other days so I'm not quite sure yet which one will come out on top

WE HAVE BABIES!

Welcome to the world little ones!  9 healthy babies joined us and there are 3 girls in the litter.  We are very excited to see them develop.  The breeder is going to begin ENS (early neurological stimulation) in a few days.

ENS is a system of desensitizing pups to stressers before ears and eyes open through a series of 5 basic exercises.  This is believed to:

• Improved cardio vascular performance (heart rate)
• Stronger heart beats
• Stronger adrenal glands
• More tolerance to stress
• Greater resistance to disease

For more information - read THIS article or kikopup (YouTube) has a good explanation:

THE JOURNEY BEGINS...

Deciding to utilize a service dog for yourself or a loved one is always a major decision and one that is not generally easily undertaken.

There are so many factors involved in deciding what type of dog you might need and how they can help, where to find and choose the right dog, then finding a trainer to help you and deciding whether to do the training yourself (owner training) or have it done for you - it can be overwhelming!

I was contacted by a family needing a service dog for their daughter to be trained to assist with Narcolepsy with Cataplexy complications.  There are many misconceptions about Narcolepsy as a whole but most people are completely unfamiliar with Cataplexy which is basically defined as:

A sudden, brief loss of voluntary muscle tone triggered by strong emotions such as laughter. 

This causes a person to lose muscle control ranging from small facial spasms to full body involvement.  While they are completely aware of what is happening, they are unable to respond until the attack subsides.  Attacks can range in intensity and duration and change from episode to episode. 

It is a highly unpredictable condition tied to many neurological components.  There is no cure but symptoms can sometimes be better managed with the right medication.

If you are interested in learning more about Cataplexy:
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/307668.php

When the Gainer family contacted me, they had already been looking for some time on their own and were struggling to get clear answers and find a good candidate.  We spent quite some time deciding what type of dog was needed and I contacted over 30 breeders of various dogs ranging from Newfoundlands and Leonbergers to Danes and Mastiffs.

Sire (Dad)     -       Dam (Mom)

In the end, we chose to go with a wonderful breeder of English Daniffs - a mix of English Mastiff x Great Dane for their pup.  This provides a good balance of a little more height to the Mastiff and a little broader physicality to the Danes. 

Temperament of course varies with each individual but the idea is to have a good mix of mellow Mastiff and goofy Dane to work with.  Health issues are the same in both breeds so working with a line of established parentage is important.

The litter is expected in early September and we are hoping for a female pup to meet our criteria.